After a high-profile case in Oakland, CA, FedEx was found to have discriminated against FedEx Ground Drivers based on their Arab-American ethnicity. According to a press release from the trial attorney for the case, Christopher B. Dolan, ‘The drivers, Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa, both Lebanese-Americans, on May 24, 2006, were awarded $11 million in emotional distress compensatory damages, double the amount sought by their attorney, who demonstrated during the jury trial that they had been the victims of continuous harassment and that the company and a terminal manager had created a hostile work environment on the basis of race and national origin. There was testimony at trial that the drivers were taunted by the manager, called ‘Arabs’, ‘camel jockeys’, ‘terrorists’, ‘Sand Niggers’, and other ethnic slurs. Both drivers still work for the company.’

The jury took no time in handing down a stiff punitive damages award against FedEx in the amount of $50 million dollars. Punitive damages are a way to dissuade that employer and other companies from engaging in these hostile and derogatory work practices. In California, compensation is awarded not just from the employers, but can also be sought against the individual employees who are the actors or who have failed to stop or prevent harassment and a hostile work environment based on ethnic or national origin discrimination.

The message is clear: California law does not support discrimination against Arabs, Mexicans, Latinos, African-Americans and many more nationalities who have come to Southern California to make a new life for themselves and their families. If you are employed by a workplace that has shown systematic and continuous discrimination based on national origin or ethnicity, you may be entitled to your legally sanctioned compensation. Call the Law Offices of Law Offices of David H. Greenberg at 1-800-252-9776 for a free initial consultation regarding your rights and how the law can help.